Popular Post - This Week

It's hard to believe, but our sweet girl turned eleven last week! We take parties pretty seriously around here, so planning actually s...

I was featured...

I was featured...

I was featured...

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Peace, Love, and Miss Manners!

Around here, September brings college football, changing leaves and a new season of Miss Manners! Several of our girls "graduated" or aged out of the program after the Very Merry Un-Birthday Party back in July. It's sad to lose some of our girls, especially since they have been in the program since the beginning, but in order to make room for more, we have to say goodbye to others.

Nancy hosted the first party of the season. She invited the older group (Miss Manners 4th - 6th grades) to her home for a fun 60's-themed party. As I've mentioned before, Jewell and my niece, Mary Reagan, are staying on as mentors. One of the perks of having Miss Manners in the family! Well, Jewell and I were really excited when we received our invitation in the mail. It was colorful and fun, and we knew Nancy would deliver on this theme.

The invitation came bundled as you can see above.

You can see the individual components below.

Early on, we talked to the girls about always dressing appropriately for a party.

Nancy included an extra card with directions on what they should wear.

The girls loved the chance to dress up! After all, what little girl doesn't?

When we arrived,

we were greeted with music as we walked through the door.

Nancy still has all her 45's from when she was a kid!

She borrowed a turntable from the education lab at Faulkner, and she was ready to rock!

There was lots of Beatles and Elvis, as well as others.

Nancy and I kept the music going throughout the party.

As usual, the decorations were colorful and spot on!

Coke, Root Beer and Orange Crush in bottles were iced down for our refreshment.

She also fearlessly added words and flowers to her walls to add to the groovy atmosphere!

An old-fashioned rotary dial phone was a popular conversation piece.

The girls even got a quick history lesson on what life was like with a party line!

I always like to show you how the chalkboard in the dining room is decorated. This was actually left over from a music-themed birthday party she had hosted recently for a friend, but this James Taylor song was not too far off from the 60's and served as a great backdrop for our theme. Nancy's daughter, Haley, decorates her board for her. I'm thinking about putting one up in my dining room, but only if Haley promises to keep mine looking just as good as Nancy's!

Meet Jeeves. Usually this little guy holds a guest book in the dining room, as you enter, but for this party, he got the full treatment as well! Better not stand still too long at Nancy's house. You'll get embellished!

Three arrangements of bright blooms dotted the center of the table. Their vases were unusual and were filled with shreds of pretty pastel paper. Fresh or not? I'll let you decide. But I tell you this, it's hard to tell! The pretty cloth underneath is new, made just for this party. Nancy found the fabric on the clearance table for about $4 a yard. She needed two yards. When they rang it up, it came to a whopping $1.33! I love it when that happens!

Colorful square paper plates served as chargers underneath her clear glass luncheon plates. Bright bandannas doubled as napkins (and later headbands!). Each girl also took home a peace sign and a favor bag above which contained vintage candies. (The candy wasn't old, but the brands were. Each of them was available in the 1960's!)

As you can imagine, the girls loved the candy! It was mostly gone before they even left the party!

For lunch, we dined on pigs-in-a-blanket, chips and dip and fruit kabobs. Iced sugar cookies wearing a smiley face made the perfect dessert!

I shared with you the dining room decorations and told you about all the yummy food we had, but we actually began the party by working on our craft, and you'll soon see why. Nancy set up for crafting at her kitchen table. She covered it with craft paper and had everything ready when the girls arrived.

Each Miss Manners party consists of refreshments, a lesson and a craft. In true 60's fashion, we decoupaged! Our theme was "friendship" and we used Proverbs 17:17 - "A friend loves at all times...".

Nancy explained the process to the girls before turning them loose. She had lots of color and paper options for them to choose from, so each girl's project was different.

The girls loved being able to customize their projects.

Even though they began with the same materials, the projects all ended up looking very different!

While everyone used the same Bible verse and flowers, they could choose from birds or bicycles to complete their projects. I thought this was such a cute way to display the dainty bicycle paper cutouts.

While their projects dried, we had our lesson. I talked about "fads vs. classics", and encouraged them to develop "classic" friendships that never go out of style, like mine and Nancy's, which has been around for over 30 years!

After our lesson, we had lunch. The girls chatted away while the music played!

We did the twist...

and Haley even taught them to hand jive!

Old friends had fun...

and new friends were made!

Haley and Nancy...

Like (groovy) mother, like (groovy) daughter!

After the Mod Podge had dried, we glued twine on the top back for hangers and embellished with some pretty burlap ribbon and a tiny wooden peace sign. The girls all loved the party. One of my nieces said it was her "favorite Miss Nancy party EVER!". Well, there you have it!

I hope you enjoyed this quick trip back to the 1960's!

In a couple of weeks, I'll be hosting the younger girls at my house. It's gonna be a sweet party! You'll have to check back in to see why!